KILLADELPHIA #1 (Image Comics, November 2019) Story: Rodney Barnes. Art: Jason Shawn Alexander. Colors: Luis Nct. Letters: Marshall Dillon. Main Cover: Jason Shawn Alexander & Luis Nct. "Sins Of The Father, Part One".
Have you noticed the current abundance of titles on comic shop shelves with vampire themes? Zombies are apparently out; and vampires are on the way in. I’m okay with that, as long as good storytelling is involved. That is certainly the case with KILLADELPHIA (love the play on words!) and how it posits vampires in modern society.
In 2017 Philadelphia, Homicide Detective Jimmy Sangster wonders why a missing persons case was turned over to the homicide team. He’s already waist deep in determining the cause of multiple deaths in the city, with a coroner attributing the lack of blood in the corpses and bite marks to an outbreak of yellow fever. Even stranger, the occurrence has links to an extremist group called Sons Of The Republic and second President Of The United States John Quincy Adams. A phone tip leads him to some low-income housing where he makes a fatal discovery.
His son, Jimmy Sangster Jr, is also a cop in Baltimore and comes across his dad’s journal, picking up the pieces of his father’s last unsolved case. Junior decides to dig around and see what he can find.
RATING SYSTEM
STORY: Yellow fever and John Adams and vampires. Creativity points for that one. The story moves at a quick, engaging clip. 2.5 POINTS.
ART: Dark, shadowy panels. Photo-realistic art. That makes it even scarier. 2.5 POINTS
COVER: Creates curiosity, but doesn’t give away what’s coming. 2 POINTS
READ AGAIN? Yes. And, when the full story or first arc completes I’ll read it in one sitting. Good characterization will always bring me back for another reading. 1 POINT.
RECOMMEND? This is a different kind of vampire story and deserves the attention. 1 POINT
TOTAL RATING: 9 OUT OF A POSSIBLE 10 POINTS. STANDS APART FROM THE CROWD.
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